Meet the CIC Team
We invite you to explore what makes CIC uniquely successful: our program teachers and the opportunities they create for our students. Our staff is constantly innovating, adapting, advocating, and building upon proven curriculum to help our students achieve their goals. Our music students have performed throughout Europe on performances tours, traveled to Japan for cultural exchanges with Japanese high school students, and every year they host international students from China and Japan. Teachers not only collaborate on instruction, they collaborate around student needs and interests, tapping into their own social and professional networks to open doors for kids.
Sy Nguyen
Algebra 2
Interview pending!
Markie Zobel
AP Language & Composition
Interview pending!
Susan Watson
Japanese
“My favorite thing about CIC has to be the diversity of my students. It sounds so corny but I wish the world could be more like CIC - people from different ethnicities and backgrounds working together toward a common goal.
CIC students are full of questions and they want to be challenged. They are eager to learn and love connecting with their teachers. They are also involved in every aspect of our school. CIC students are also musicians, actors, singers, student leaders, athletes and so much more. They never cease to amaze me.
I love watching what they do outside of the classroom. I go to their games, concerts, events, plays and musicals. Doing this allows me to really see the whole person and not just the student who is taking my class.”
Jenna Webb
10th Grade English
Interview pending!
Ishmael Pluton
World History
“The students! They are incredibly curious about the world and their place in it! I love going to see my students performing on stage or playing their sport! It is so cool to get out and see them pursuing one of their passions. I also love walking my students around the Poly campus and showing them WPA art projects when teaching about the Great Depression.”
Amy Montooth
Environmental Science
“My favorite thing about CIC has to be the diversity of my students. It sounds so corny but I wish the world could be more like CIC - people from different ethnicities and backgrounds working together toward a common goal.
CIC students are full of questions and they want to be challenged. They are eager to learn and love connecting with their teachers. They are also involved in every aspect of our school. CIC students are also musicians, actors, singers, student leaders, athletes and so much more. They never cease to amaze me.
I love watching what they do outside of the classroom. I go to their games, concerts, events, plays and musicals. Doing this allows me to really see the whole person and not just the student who is taking my class.”
Kristin Quevedo
Statistics
“The students enrolled into CIC, typically, have high goals for themselves. In general, CIC students tend to be self motivated to do their best academically.
I’m excited to be part of a prestigious program at the flagship high school in LBUSD”
Al Shaheen
Chemistry
“I have taught in CIC for 8 years and I've enjoyed meeting siblings of students I've taught in the past. I have fun just working with my students and watching the growth they achieve in the course of just a year with me.
My favorite thing about CIC is the sense of community among the CIC families and Poly's CIC faculty. Teachers, counselor and coordinator work together to support all students who are so talented and social; they really take care of each other.”
Ricardo Montecinos
AP U.S. History & Criminal Law
Feifei Fan
Chinese
“The special thing about CIC is that faculty are united and work together to support our students. I can feel a sense of belonging in CIC.”
Leland McGrath
Senior Capstone
“[CIC] students are amazingly diverse and well rounded. I’m excited to set our global citizens loose on the world to affect change”
Matt Cino
Government and Economics
James Cooperider
AP Literature & Composition
“CIC offers students the opportunity to challenge themselves in preparation for their future at the same as pursuing their many other passions. The diversity of students, and their interests, enriches the culture and identity of not only the individual classrooms but Poly as a whole. I love seeing CIC students in their various elements - sports, music, theater. I love seeing my Seniors enjoy their final year as Jackrabbits and I love playing "Prom Police" at prom.
Having taught elsewhere in the district, it is the CIC students, teachers, families, and mission that brought me back to Poly, where I hope to spend the remainder of my teaching career.”
Adrianne Kerfoot
Biology
Steve Perrin
Geometry
“[CIC] students are in a sweet spot for me and maybe for other teachers also. They have the motivation to want to succeed, but they also need some direction and some help to be their best, and that's rewarding as a teacher.”
Matthew Knapil
9th Grade English
““I’m excited to teach students who are excited to learn..”
Cameron Beaulac
International Relations
“I have taught in many programs during my 30 years at Poly, and I can honestly say that I believe CIC is the best, and if I lived in the LBUSD, my daughters would have been part of it. The teachers within the program, year in and year out, are exceptional and want to see you child succeed. I know I do!
What I love about CIC students is the diversity of the students, their desire to learn, their willingness to both motivate and help others.”
Christine Mercado
Pre-Calculus
“[CIC] students are in a sweet spot for me and maybe for other teachers also. They have the motivation to want to succeed, but they also need some direction and some help to be their best, and that's rewarding as a teacher.”
April Koo
Japanese
Kayoko Kawasaki
Japanese
Electives
Students will also have an array of electives from which to choose, including visual and performance arts